Slow healing
by Ilovemybooks14
Summary: After coming out of Tartarus , Percy and Annabeth will have to face the hard road of recovery, because they may have only had some minor cuts on their bodies, but their minds didn't came out unscathed. A realistic take on the post-tartarus percabeth, and the toughts and reactions of their friends and parents, as they watch the couple slowly heal.
1. Chapter 1 (06-24 05:50:03)

**Ok just an idea I have had for a while. My first story, I hope you**

 **enjoy it.**

*

When he first saw the sun again, Percy _laughed._

He knew the other members of the Argo II must think he had finally gone crazy, but he couldn't help it.

He was just so _relieved_ to be out of Tartarus, out of that... that _nightmare_ , that the only thing he could do while holding Annabeth hands as they came out of the House of Hades was laugh.Annabeth must have felt relieved as well, because she started laughing with him.

He felt her hands leaving his as she fell on her knees and onto the soft green grass, laughing as if she were a mad woman.

Percy felt the rays of sunshine warm his skin, as he followed her , his knees sinking in the soft ground, his hands grasping onto the thick grass as if he had never seen it before.

He briefly met the others gaze, and there he saw a mix of different emotions: amusement , confusion, worry. He could tell that they didn't know what to think about their emotional breakdown.

And he hugged Annabeth as their laughters turned into small hiccups and then desperate sobs.

He didn't even know why he was crying, they were _out_ , they should be throwing a party, but he couldn't stop his shaking shoulders nor could he stop the tears streaming down his cheeks, he couldn't even find it in himself to be embarrassed of crying like a baby in front of his friends, he probably would feel that later, but for now, all he could do was hold Annabeth in his arms, while she did the same, watching her shoulders tremble with the same intensity as his.

*

Hazel was scared.

As she paced through the deck ,

she remembered the first time she had seen Percy, running towards her

carrying an old hippy lady in his arms, hippy lady that had later proved to be Juno , but even then he had exuded such power and confidence, that for a brief moment she had thought he was a god undercover.

Then they left for their quest, and they became closer, she started thinking of Percy as of an older brother, and she had come to love him dearly.

That's why, the mere thought that he went through something so _dark_ and... and _scary_ , so _traumatic_ that it could trigger such a reaction out of him, sent cold shivers running down her back.

Thinking that the same someone that was able to reduce the two bravest people she had ever met to tears, was now plotting against them... well it was not a reassuring tought.

But she couldn't afford to think like that, the quest through her father's temple had been a great success, they had rescued their friends, closed the doors of death, and were one step closer to defying Gaia and the Giants...but the price of that...and once again her thoughts were directed to the two people that were now sleeping , holding hands, in the infirmary.

*

That night, dinner was a quiet affair on the Argo II. Everyone was there except for Percy and Annabeth that were still recovering in the infirmary.

Piper seemed assorted in her thoughts as she shifted bits of food on her plate without eating anything.

Jason instead had a frown displayed on his face as though something was worrying him.

Hazel and Frank had just came down from the deck and had not talked much at all.

Nobody had, the mood was somber and not even Leo was cracking any jokes, too busy tinkering with something in his left hand.

"Should we... talk about what happened today?"

he asked suddendly, not standing the oppressive silence anymore.

"What's there to say? You... you all saw them, when we came out of there, they were so-"

Jason didn't finish the sentence, but there was no need, they all knew what he meant ,they had been so _distraught_ , and their sobs so _desperate_ and _heart-wrenching_ , they all had felt like they were intruding in some private moment, but at the same time, they couldn't stop watching , trying to think of ways to help their friends.

Just then the noise of footsteps from the door, announced the arrival of the two people they had been talking about.

Piper had not had the chance to really look at them during that afternoon, but now that they were there, standing before the table and in front of the bright lights of the dining room ,she had the chance to analyze her two friends and she felt something heavy drop in her stomach as she took in the dark bags under their eyes and their sunken cheeks, or the fact that they were deadly pale and seemed ready to crumble at the first blow of the wind.

"Hey" Annabeth said, her voice raspy, like she had not used it in a hundred years.

"Hey, Annabeth, Percy! How are you? Are you feeling better?" Piper asked trying to sound cheery

"I'm so happy, you came out of the infirmary guys, I hope you feel up to eating something" she continued in the same tone.

"Yeah I'm starving, feel like I've not eaten in centuries"

Percy answered, his grin dissipated the tension and brought conversations back in the room.

Leo was telling the others about Hazel manipulating the mist, effectively creating a maze, when something happened.

Percy's right hand trembled, making him drop his fork and spill his drink.

As quickly as it had come, the trembling stopped, but the damage was done and he now had a strange look in his eyes, sadness and anger clear in his gaze.

Annabeth was quick to react, she dried the table using some tissues then took his hand, that was trembling again but this time from suppressed anger, in her own and looked at him in the eyes, seeming to have a silent conversation with him.

Piper had for the second time that day the feeling that she was intruding in something personal, and as much as that annoyed her, she couldn't help but wonder if she and Jason would ever reach the same level of intimacy.

Whatever Annabeth saw in his eyes mustn't have convinced her because she quickly got up from her seat, and before anyone could comprend what she was doing, she accomodated herself on top of Percy, circling his neck with her arms and giving a soft kiss on his hair. "It's okay" she whispered in his ear and that seemed to placate the tempest in his eyes, as he took her in his arms and buried his face in her mass of blond curls.

Seeing as Percy and Annabeth weren't the types to be seen exchanging demostration of affect in public, the others were completely thrown off by the sudden gesture, and Hazel started venting her face with her hand, while Frank blushed almost as much as her.

Piper barely suppressed an 'awww' and with horror she blamed it on her mother's sphere of influence.

*

Leo couldn't sleep.

He had seen the terrified faces of his friends as they came out of hell, and he couldn't help but think it was his fault, he knew that opening that damn fortune's cookie to save Frank and Hazel would have heavy consequences, but he had opened it nonetheless, too _slow_ to find the answer on his own, and then, two of the members of their group had paid the price for his _stupidity_ , taking an unexpected trip to the pits of hell.

Guilt was eating him, and that's why he couldn't sleep, preferring to wander around the ship, in search of something that needed to be repaired.

As he was passing near the dining room he heard a scream that had his heart stop for a moment, a terrified scream that freezed the blood in his veins, and told him all he needed to know. _Monsters_.

He started running towards the rooms ,where the scream had come from, while mentally asking his magic belt to give him the biggest hammer it could produce.

As he arrived to the part of the ship that contained the seven's rooms he saw a crowd of people gathered around Annabeth's door.

They were all sporting a strange mixture of pajamas and armour, weapons in hand, but they stood still, like frozen statues as they looked inside the door.

Curiosity piqued Leo, and he stepped near the door to see what all the commotion was about.

The sight that met him, made him freeze as well.

Inside the room were two people, Annabeth and Percy.

He had his arms around her in support, as she sobbed desperately, _clinging_ into his shirt .

Leo was confused, where was the moster? Had they already killed it?

Then why was she crying?

Then he understood.

There had never been a moster.

It was Annabeth that had screamed, because of a _nightmare_.

But... but how could a nightmare scare her so badly, that she woke up screaming her head off?

He surely had had his share of nightmares, but even the most horrific ones, the ones that showed him scenes of his mother dying, had never had him waking up in the middle of the night shouting.

 _'But you have never been to Tartarus'._

A voice in his head whispered making him think.

Could it be that she had been having a nightmare about that place?

Then he heard them speak, and his doubts were answered.

Annabeth was still clinging onto Percy as if her very life depended on it ,and maybe it had, down there, after all they must have watched each other backs all the time to survive.

"Shhh, calm down Wise girl, it's okay, I'm here, we're together and out of that pla-"

"P-percy, Percy... I-"

"Shhh I know, I know and I'm here with you"

"It's that I- I was there and... and t-they were there a-and then I couldn't see anymore, and I woke up, a-and it was so dark, and I c-couldn't see, and I was so alone-"

she started crying again.

"It's okay Wise girl, I'm here now, I'm here and I'm never letting you go again.

We're together and that's all that matters. I love you Annabeth."

he said taking her chin in his hand and looking at her directly in the eyes.

"I love you, Percy" she said back, still looking at him.

Then they slowly closed the distance between them and kissed, a slow, sweet kiss. And the others took that as their cue to leave.

Leo was the last one to leave, being the closest to the door, he took it in his hand, closing it to give them some privacy, his head full of thoughs and guilt clear in his eyes.

As he moved from the door he met Pipers gaze, a look was all it took for Leo to understand that she knew how he was feeling, and she slowly shook her head, as if to say

' _Not your fault'._

He didn't believe her, but he really hoped one day he would come to.


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, I'm so happy you like this story guys, I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the first comments.** **I must admit that I was a bit reticent at first about publishing this, but seeing your rewiews made me want to continue ! So keep giving me your opinions!** **Now I started this in the first place, because as one of you pointed out** , **it feels like there are almost no stories about Percy and Annabeth dealing with the after effects of Tartarus, and the ones that you can find are either incomplete or complete trash,** **so here we are.**

 **P.S. For the one who asked, yes Nico had already left with Reyna and Hedge, in the previous chapter.** **Enjoy.**

 **P.P.S. A little description of the battle against Gea, before going back to the description of the after-effects of Tartarus on our favourite heroes.**

*

Percy didn't like that.

He watched from the ground as Jason used the winds to lift himself and Piper, directing themselves towards the giant bronze dragon that was clutching the heart goddess in his claws, using his fire-breath to keep her solid.

He didn't like that, but they were right, the prophecy was clear

' _Fire or Storm',_ and for as much as he wanted to help, he had to step aside and let Jason and Leo deal with dirt-face.

Besides, he couldn't just lazy around, they still had an entire army of monsters to defeat , and they seemed to be wriggling out of the ground where they all had been trapped by Gea, faster then the demigods were, using their advantage to attack those who were still stuck into the earth.

Percy held Riptide firmly in his hand as he worked to free his legs, he may not be able to help with stupid

dirt-face, but he would be damned if he let another demigod, be it greek or roman, fall under the hands of those monsters.

He fought and ducked and slashed, but the monsters just kept coming, he felt like for every enemy he killed three more took his place.

That almost sent him into a flashback, the fight with the _Arai_ working its way into his mind, but that wasn't the moment, an oppressive knot was starting to form in his throat as he noticed too much time had passed since he had last seen the high, blond pony-tail typical of Annabeth, and that almost had him panicking.

' _What_ _if she has been hurt?'_ he though while slashing his sword

through the body of a grain spirit

' _What if she-'_ Percy was jerked out of his toughts by a familiar voice calling his name.

He turned and saw Annabeth furiously pointing at something to his right, he quickly looked and what he saw was not pretty.

Over the hill an entire army of monsters was marching towards the battle, men with wolf heads were grinning evilly as they watched the demigods fight for their lives, ordes of cynocephali and griphons advanced steadly while karpois kept swirling out of the grass and strange ghosts with earth shells melted out of the ground.

He turned to look at Annabeth once again, they were soon going to be outnumbered, seriously outnumbered, and lots of demigods were going to die if they didn't do something _now_.

' _Do it'_ Annabeth pleaded with her eyes

"No!" he knew what she was asking, do it, use your powers, but Percy couldn't, ever since Tartarus he hadn't used his powers, the truth was that he was afraid, he knew that down there something had happened to him, something had happened to his powers, and every night he had nightmares, starring Annabeth face, too scared to even look at him, while he drowned the goddess of misery in her own poison.

He was afraid that if he used his powers again, he wouldn't be able to control them, he didn't want to see that expression of pure terror on Annabeth's face ever again, especially if he was the one causing it. He didn't want to lose control of his powers, not knowing what consequences it could bring.

Annabeth had gotten closer to him, working her way between monsters.

He distantly heard Reyna and Frank screaming at the cohorts to regroup to face the enemies from the hill.

"Percy-"

"No! What if I can't control it?! What if I-"

"Percy! You _**can**_ do it! I trust you can do it! I trust you!"

He was still unconvinced, but he knew, that if the troups reached the battlefield they wouldn't stand a chance. That made up his mind.

"Reyna! Order a retreat!"

He shouted as loud as he could, trying to get to her.

"What! Are you crazy?!They'll destroy us!"

"Trust me! I have a plan!"

she looked highly dubious but she ordered a retreat nonetheless.

She reached him as the greeks retreated as well

"This better work, Jackson"

Percy stepped out from the line that the demigods had now formed, all of them facing the monsters.

He noticed that Piper, Jason and Leo were still high in the sky, occupied with Gea.

He stopped , his back now facing the demigods, his eyes pointed on the monsters.

He tightened his hold on his sword, his eyebrows united in a frown as he tried to reach inside himself, ignoring the fear of losing control, the fear of not being able to stop himself.

Then he screamed, a scream so powerful that the monsters took a step back from him, as did the demigods. A familiar tug in his stomach appeared as he called on his powers, he screamed again to let go of all the pain, the fear and the pressure he was feeling, then summoning all the force he possessed he stuck his sword into the ground, and what followed was pure caos.

'Well' he though with smirk 'There is a reason if they call my father the earth-shaker'.

*

Reyna had seen her fair shade of Gods during her life, some had appeared innocuous, others had immediately showed off their powers, but Reyna had never seen something like this.

When Percy first screamed, she almost took a step back, the pain, the fear, the raw power so real in is voice, she stood there, staring at him, unable to look away.

As soon as he sunk his sword into the ground, cracks started radiating from where he stood towards the monsters, an entire line of cynocephaly was swallowed into the earth, some wolf-men started fighting their way up the hill, to avoid the same fate.

And that was just the start, water started coming from the lake, the trees, the cracks in the ground, and it started circling Percy, slowly at first, then faster, and faster.

Giant water hands, smashed grain spirits and ghouls, washing their rests away, keeping them from re-forming.

A cyclone formed around Percy, and he screamed again, but this time it was a battle cry and he launched onto battle, the demigods following him loyally, recognizing him as their leader.

Fighting with a huge cyclone on your team, realized Reyna, is a really great advantage.

It was only a matter of minutes before all of the remaining enemies were eliminated.

Suddenly the hurricane stopped,

a visibly fatigued Percy with tore clothes and minor cuts all over his body made his reappearance.

He found Reyna's gaze and smirked

"It worked" he mouthed, then he fainted.

As she stepped towards him, the blast of an explosion shook the earth, as the sky turned into a golden doom.

OoO

 **As I said, just a brief description of the war against Gea, before we start dealing with the effects the whole thing had on our heroes.**

 **What do you think? Was Percy too Owerpowered? Well I don't know, I just know that old uncle Rick showed us all these cool things Percy can do with his powers, and then in writing the fight scene agains Gea he just was like "You could end this whole thing in two minutes, but stand aside because you are not important right now."**

 **I don't know, it may be just me, but after reading of him creating hurricanes, giant water hands, exploding volcanos, and controlling underworld's rivers and poisons, I think he could have done a little more than just fight.**


	3. Chapter 3

**You are all so nice with your reviews guys!** **I've received only nice comments about this story, and I'm glad that you all like it!** **Seriously every time I read one of them I get all excited and start writing another chapter.** **Sooo I'll leave you to the story. Enjoy!**

When Percy woke the morning after the battle, it wasn't because of 'the sunlight shining through the window' or 'the frivolous chirping of the birds', no, he was hungry.

He opened his eyes, expecting the familiar walls of his cabin to greet him, instead he didn't immediately recognize where he was.

Everything appeared to be withe, exept for the little golden sun's drawings on the walls.

The room wasn't very big, but it had enough space in it, to comfortably fit the bed on which he was currently lying, a cabinet full of medicines and a chair.

He soon understood that he was in the infirmary at camp half-blood, but he really couldn't remember getting there, no matter how much he tried.

He looked at the chair, which was being occupied by someone, he easily recognized Annabeth, by the mass of blond curls lying sprawled next to him. She seemed to be sleeping.

He shifted a bit to find a more comfortable position and that movement woke her immediately.

Judging by the dark bags under her eyes, she hadn't slept much, and he suddenly felt guilty for waking her up.

"Percy! You are awake!How are you feeling? Are you hurt?!"

"Hey! Hey. I'm happy to see you too.

Don't worry about me, I'm fit as a fiddle, no pun intended."

he smirked

"Now, would you mind telling me what happened? I remembrer creating a huge cyclone, then everything becames fuzzy after that."

Annabeth hugged him and told him what happened after he went ballistic on the monsters.

"Then you fainted, and while we approached you, up in the sky Jason, Piper and Leo successfully destroyed dirty-queen provoking a huge explosion that lit the whole sky on fire."

Percy nodded, listening to her words, but he had an inkling, that she wasn't telling him something, something important.

"What about the others? Are they all right? Have the romans already left camp?"

"Yes, Seaweed brain. The romans are still here, they said they wanted to see you before they left, but I think they're going to stay at least a week , before leaving.

And the others are okay, thanks to your plan no demigod was killed by the second army...well the others are okay exept for..."

she paused and her eyes teared up a bit

"Exept for who?!" asked Percy impatiently.

"Percy, Leo...he didn't make it"

she inclined her head so he couldn't see her eyes, but he knew she was crying.

"What?! Leo?! But! But he...he said he had a plan! How is... What did...

How could it happen?!"

"He was too close to the explosion Percy. He might have been fireproof but an explosion of that magnitude... it was too much. But-"

"But?" he urged her to continue.

" Well, Hazel revealed us that he had another plan, one he only told her and Frank about. He had the cure with him, and although we've been searching all night, we couldn't find his body, we couldn't even find Festus, and one would think that a giant fire-breathing bronze dragon, would be hard to miss."

Just as she was ending her explanation, someone entered the room. It was Will Solace from the cabin of Apollo, another person who appeared to not have had much sleep.

"Percy! You're awake!How are you this morning?"

"l'm fine, more than fine actually, I feel more rested than I have in months. What happened to me?"

he was curious to find out why he had passed out.

"A bit of an exhaustion, nothing to worry about, that was quite a show you put on last nigth. A show without which I would have the triple of the patients needing my attentions today. So I think I should thank you. Not only on my behalf, but on that of all the children of Apollo here at camp.Thank you."

Percy didn't know what to say, he had just done what needed to be done in order to save as many demigods as possible. He felt himself blush slightly at the thanks, and decided a change of topic was needed.

"Soo, when can I leave? You know, I'm starving, what time is it?"

"Don't worry, you can leave, just try not to overwork yourself, and promise that you aren't going to use your powers for the next day or so.

Now go it's almost lunchtime."

As he said that the horn indicating lunch-time was blown.

Percy took Annabeth's hand in his, and they both thanked Will and left the infirmary to head towards the dining pavilion, as Percy stomach emitted a low grumbling noise.

They reached the dining pavilion and he was happy to see that people were sitting freely wherever they wanted, without making distinctions based on their divine parents. Greek and Romans were happly chatting together, eating and laughing.

But he wasn't expecting the sudden silence that fell on the pavilion as people noticed him.

"What are they staring at?"

he asked Annabeth, who was visibly amused.

"You, mean 'Who' Seaweed brain.

And they are staring at you."

"Well...Why?"

"Why don't you ask them?" then she laughed,and it had been so much time since he had last seen her laughing, that he didn't care if the whole world was staring at him, as long as she continued.

*

Frank was glad the war had finally ended, he may be a child of Mars, but he didn't like conflicts.

He was currently seated at a table with Hazel,Reyna, Dakota andGwen on his left and some greek campers, including his half sister Clarisse, in front of him. They were all talking about the previous war, with happy smiles on their faces, tomorrow they will be buring the deads, but today wasn't about mourning, today was about celebratinh, they had just won a war after all, and dead people could wait.

One second they were all talking and laughing, and the one after all he could hear was silence.

He turned his head to understand why everyone had shut up.

Then he saw who had arrived and understood.

Percy stood near the end of the pavilion, one of his arms was circling Annabeth, and he seemed confused at why everyone was looking at him.

What he probably didn't undertand was that the campers weren't only staring, no, they were starstruck.

You could see it in their faces, personally Frank already knew what his friend was capable of, having been on more than one quest with him, but all the new greek campers, the ones that hadn't been there during the war against Kronos and also the majority of the romans, they had only heard stories about the demigod Percy Jackson.

So when yesterday, he had put his powers to good use, and had destroyed an entire army of mosters in a few minutes, well let's say he had gotten himself a new fanclub. Surely the romans now remembered why they had named him praetor.

Something they had almost forgotten with Octavian and all his talks about traitors and graecus.

"Hmm...Er...Hi?" it sounded almost like a question and Frank smiled at his friend shyness.

"Percy!"

He didn't know who had talked, he just knew that after that his friend vanished under a pile of bodies.

All his friends wanted to hug him, relieved, as he had given them all quite a scare, when he had fainted the day before.

Frank too was relieved his friend was okay, he had been the one to take him in his arms and escort him to the infirmary, he hadn't expected him to be so light when he had taken him. After Tartarus his friend had looked like the slightest breeze could blow him away, but he had been putting on some weight after that. So had Annabeth, Piper and Hazel had made sure about that.

'Apparently not enough' tought Frank as he recalled collecting his friend from the ground and the stupor he had felt when he had made almost no effort, walking with him.

Finally he watched as Percy and Annabeth sat down too, and he made sure to seat near them, as it had now become his personal mission to make sure that they ate enough.

If only his Grandma could be here to watch him now, she would laugh and tease him that he was becoming a mommy bear.

*

That afternoon all activactivities were suspended in occasion of a party being celebrated in the amphitheatre.

Demigods occupated the stone seats as a big colourful fire shone in the heart.

They were happly munching on marshmallow and smoores as different quests were being recounted.

Hazel, Piper and Jason, held the attention of all the presents, as they took turns describing the seven's quest.

They started from the attack on New Rome, at which the romans made sore faces, explaining that it had all been the fault of an eidolon, that had possessed Leo, and later Percy and Jason.

Piper's voice craked as she mentioned Leo but she kept going on with the story.

Jason described their arrival in the real Rome and their fight against the twin giants, with the help of Bacchus.

"Well, in the meantime Annabeth left for a solitary quest under Rome, the quest that led her to the statue of Athena, you can now see shining on the hill, we don't know what happened down there, as only Annabeth can tell you that, but we know that the guardian of the Athena Pantheon was the orrible Aracne that-"

They were interrupted in their story as some of the Athena campers actually shrieked at the name of the monster and confronted Annabeth.

"You fought Aracne? _The_ Aracne?

The Big Hairy Huge Spidery Spider, Aracne?

How did you do that? Spiders hate us! Where did you find the courage?

You're my hero!"

Athena campers all around where throwing questions at her, looks of worship in their eyes.

But Annabeth didn't see that, despite her hubris, that once would have made her love all the attention, she looked highly uncomfortable, now.

Piper noticed and tried to remove the attention from her but too late she realized that what happened next would only move the attention from her to her _and_ Percy.

Searching for the right words to use, she tried to describe the part of their friends' fall into hell, asking Jason to help her with her eyes

"We were about to go back on the ship, but..."

"But the floor started to crumble so we moved to assure the statue on the ship"

"Too late we noticed that Annabeth had spiderwebs tangled around her ankle"

"She-she was... and then Percy and Nico, they-"

As tears started forming in her eyes, Piper knew she couldn't continue, she just couldn't.

"And then I was dragged to the edge of a pit that led straight into hell, and stupid Seaweed brain, knew he couldn't lift me up so he decided to fall with me instead"

Surprisingly it was Annabeth that finished the story. Her voice sharp like a blade and her eyes showing a hardness Piper had never seen from her, as if daring someone to interrupt her.

Murmurs and whispers began filling the amphitheatre, all the demigods reaching the same conclusion.

Percy and Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus and from the looks on their faces it had not been a pleasant trip.

Half-bloods all around turned their attention on the two, hoping for some details on the place, as they were almost non-existent.

"What?" asked Percy, his tone harsh

"Aren't you going to tell us about your quest down there? Of how you survived that place?"

As soon as she heard the question from one of the demigods, Piper knew whoever that was had made a huge mistake.

"What?!" repeated Percy sounding angrier.

Piper now recognized the camper, one of the new ones, a daughter of Apollo.

"Well, we are all curious to hear about Tartarus! After all-"

"DON'T SAY THAT NAME!"

Percy exploded. Water shot out of some glasses near him, some shattered from the pressure.

"If I ever hear you say that name again in my presence, an army of monsters wanting to kill you will be the last of your problems!"

Silence.

"And that goes for all of you!"

No one dared saying a word.

Piper was scared, she had never seen him so angry.

Angry Percy seemed a completely different person from the sassy, easy-going guy she knew.

He was actually scary.

If what she was seeing now was what his enemies saw during a battle, she prayed with all her heart they never found themselves on opposing sides of a conflict.

For the first time she understood why the Gods had debated if he should live or die. When she had heard the story the first time, she had been angry that the Gods had even considered the possibility.

Now she wondered if they had just been scared he would chose to fight for Kronos. They preferred to kill him while they still had the chance , rather than risking having to face him on the battlefield.

The poor daughter of Apollo seemed on the verge of crying.

Percy was breathing hard , suddenly feeling threatened.

Annabeth tried to calm him down, by putting a hand on his shoulder, but he flinched.

Piper understood that he wasn't really angry, he was just as scared as they were.

He seemed to snap out of his anger, and looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"I- I'm sorry" he turned to look at Annabeth, she was crying.

Without saying a word he turned again and run out of the amphitheatre, and towards the woods, Annabeth following after him.

*

 **Wow, two thousand words all in one shot. I was feeling rather inspired.**

 **Dun dun duuun, Percy lost it at the mention of Tartarus, bad mistake girl. You know, I read that people with PTSD have a difficult time controlling their emotions, I hope I managed to transmit that to you.I wanted it to be clear that when people started pressing him after details, he suddenly felt trapped, he does in no way want to live through that again, and so he found a way to keep people away, scare them.**

 **Also, Scary Percy uh?**

 **That's not something I usually see in others fanfiction, usually authors tend to ignore it only talking about**

 **happy Percy, sassy Percy or depressed Percy.**

 **But I think it's important to analyze all the little changes in their personality, even the darkest ones.**

 **As Percy in no way would have ever exploded like that, to his friends nonetheless, without experiencing something so life-changing.**

 **But enough of my chatter.**

 **If you liked the chapter, leave a Review, I'll be waiting for your thoughts ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi, everyone! Before you start reading the new chapter,I wanted to** **answer one of your reviews!** **So, someone pointed out that Percy recovering in just one day, is bullshit, and that after the events of mount Helen, he had to recover for two weeks on Calypso's island.** **Yhea well, that's true, but as I see it you can't really compare the two events, as they are different.** **In the first case, he was younger, still exploring his powers, and he couldn't control earth or lava, he could just control water, but he was circled by enemies, he was desperate, and it was a do it or die situation, so he summoned with all his might the power necessary to make a _spent_ volcano erupt. That sure must have been exhausting.** **In my story, he was fighting with water, using powers he was already familiar with. And I might be wrong, but when Percy controlled an underword's river, or when he controlled poisons in Tartarus or when he created cyclones in the canon books, you didn't read of him promptly fainting after. So he has gotten a lot stronger over time, and even if he passed out in my fic, it only happened because he still wasn't fully healed after Tartarus, but even so, a long 16/17 hours rest did the trick.**

 **P.S. After rereading the previous chapters, I noticed that I made Annabeth appear like a crying baby...well I just wanted to say that in no way I see Annabeth like that, I think she is a strong, independent woman and a fierce warrior, I hope to make that clear within the next chapters.**

Annabeth was getting nervous.

After Percy's flight from the amphitheater, she had followed him into the woods, but she had lost him and she didn't have the slightest idea where he could be.

It was getting dark, the sun now almost completely hiding behind the hills, and Annabeth was tempted to go back to the safety of camp, as the dark shadows of the trees were starting to assume monstrous shapes in the back of her mind, but she had to find Percy first.

Just thinking of him gave her the courage necessary to continue, and she pushed herself forward, only one goal in mind.

She almost lost it when she heard a scream near her, but regaining her composure she peered from behind a large tree to see what had scared her.

And right there, she saw the person she had been looking for.

Percy gave another scream as he launched himself against a tree, Riptide in one hand leaving deep, long gashes into the abused wood.

Noises of frustration filled the air as the sword repeatedly hit the trunk, an expression she had never seen on Percy's face, distorting his features into an angered grin.

"Percy" she called , her voice clear, hoping not to startle him.

He turned towards her, the grin promptly leaving his face , only to be substituted by a fiercer one.

"Go away"

"Percy don't be stupid, let's leave this pla-"

"Go away!" he repeated, shouting.

Annabeth was a bit scared, but she didn't flinch nor did she back off, if she had one certainty in her life, it was that Percy, would never, ever, under any circumstances, hurt her. Be it intentional or not.

She approached him slowly, as one would do with a scared cat.

"Seaweed brain, come on, it's okay"

she hugged him.

At first he was stiff, but after a few seconds he seemed to crumble in her arms.

"I-I am s-sorry, I didn't mean what I said, I d-don't know what came over me, I just snapped there, I'm so sorry."he continued to whisper his apologies like a man searching for redemption.

Annabeth hold him thight to her, never letting go.

"Don't worry Seaweed brain, it doesn't matter now, let's go back to camp, we need to rest-"

"But I can't go back to camp! You heard what I said! Everyone will hate me now!" he sounded desperate, his guilty eyes pleading her to understand.

"Oh my stupid Kelp head, nobody hates you, everyone is worried , but rest assured that it will take much more than a weak moment, from your part, to make them hate you.

Now come on, I'm really tired, and I don't like this place at night, it creeps me out."

They walked back towards camp together, hand in hand , hoping that the following morning, all of it would just become a distant memory.

*

Percy was ashamed of himself.

What he had done that afternoon was inexcusable and he decided that, first thing in the morning, he would find the poor camper he had shouted at, and he would apologize to her.

But now he had a slightly more pressing matter at hands.

He and Annabeth had arrived in front of his cabin, and they went in together, only once they entered they remembered the strict rule stating that two non-siblings campers of different sex couldn't sleep in the same cabin together, especially not _alone_.

But Percy didn't know if he could sleep without Annabeth by his side.

After that first horrendous night aboard the Argo II, they had started spending the night with each other, in one of their rooms, so that when the nightmares came, they could hold each other tight and go through the experience together without waking up all the occupants of the ship.

"Annabeth-" he pronunced at the same time as she said "Percy"

they looked in each others eyes, the same question passing through their minds.

Percy though about all the possible outcomes in his mind, and that process only helped him confirm what he had already been thinking,

they would sleep together, in the same bed, and if anyone had something to say about that they could bring their complaints directly to him.

He met Annabeth's eyes and he knew she had come to the same conclusion.

"Do you think someone will notice?"

she asked, her voice a mere whisper.

"Your brothers and sisters may notice your absence, but if they have only even a quarter of your intelligence, they will understand the situation and keep quiet."

She slapped his arm jokingly at his answer, but didn't contaddict him.

They were really tired after all the emotional turmoil they went through, so the couple started getting ready for bed.

They didn't really have their things with them but luckily the cabin had been left untouched since the last time Percy had been there, so all his things were in their place.

Thinking about that made both pain and anger flare inside Annabeth, pain as she remembered that the last time Percy had been in his cabin, had been the night he was kidnapped by stupid-Era, and anger towards the crazy goddess.

Of course all of his things were here, untouched! He had been taken into the middle of the night without as much as a warning!

But all that didn't matter now, Percy was here, he was back, they were together, the war had finally ceased, and this time she would make sure he never got out of ger sight again, not even for a minute!

They started changing, getting ready for bed, Annabeth didn't have her pajamas as it was back in her cabin, so while Percy used the bathroom she fished one of his shirts out of the closet and stripped down to her underwear before putting it on.

She heard the sound of the water running out as Percy got finished into the bathroom. She moved to take his place , but as she turned around she couldn't help but laugh at the expression on Percy's face.

His cheeks were red in embarrassment as she had caught him staring, his eyes wide as he took in her new fashion-choices.

"Like my new dress?" she asked amused, referring to the shirt hanging on her frame.

A proof of how much weight she had lost in that nightmar-ish place, luckly she had managed to gain a bit of it back, no longer looking like a walking skeleton, but full recovery was still far, far away from them.

"You're beautiful Annabeth"

his voice so full of adoration she felt herself falling in love with him, again.

"I'll just wash myself quickly, make yourself comfortable "

and with that she left for the bathroom.

*

 _'idiot, idiot, idiot'_ Percy tought, as his girlfriend had just caught him staring at her like a moth ensnared by a light, while he gaped, mind blank, too distracted to think about something intelligent to say.

Luckly she had talked first, unblocking him, but even as she went to the other room, he could only think about how sexy his girlfriend looked wearing one of his shirts.

He felt stupid but he couldn't help but think about the way the cloth reached her tight, just barely covering all that was above, or the fact that having her wear one of his shirts just screamed 'MINE' for all others to see. Not that he wanted other guys to look at his girlfriend while dressed like that, but still.

And he wasn't even one of those possessive or jealous guys, he trusted Annabeth to much to even think about being jealous, but he was still a teenager, and seeing his girlfriend like that was doing things to him.

He sighed and made his way over to the bed, there was more than one bed, but he didn't even consider preparing another for his wise girl, as he knew the best way for them to sleep was in each other arms.

She came out of the bathroom and without hesitation got into the bed next to Percy.

He hugged her from behind, marveling at the softness of her skin as she rotated her head so that their lips could meet.

"Goodnight Seaweed Brain, I love you" she whispered, her breath soft like the breeze, sending a shiver, running down his spine.

"I love you Wise Girl".

As the other campers went to sleep that night, Athena's children wondering where their sister might be, there was a soft breeze outside.

All was quiet.

And when in the darkest hour of the night Percy started jerking his head on the pillow, broken movements a clear sign of a nightmare, Annabeth was there to comfort him with her calm gestures and soft spoken words.

The campers slept peacefully that night, no one waking up at the sound of terrified screams.

 *****

 **Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait and Merry Christmas...? A bit late but I can still wish you a happy new year.**

 **Sooo, did you like the chapter?**

 **In case you were wondering, yes I plan on writing some intimate scenes between Percy and Annabeth, I mean, c'mon they are seventeen, the war has ended, all that pressure coming off their shoulders, all alone in a bedroom... If nothing happened between them I would get worried, have them checked even.**

 **Buuuut it'll be nothing vulgar or gross, if you're hoping for smut, keep searching, I'm sure somewhere in this perverted fandom you'll find what you're looking for.**

 **But if you came here for the feels... don't worry you're in the right place.**


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